MyGeniosidea!

For anyone wondering if there is a future still out there, get a hold of Paul Zane Pilzer’s latest book ‘The Next Millionaires’. (www.VideoPlus.com)

During the period from 2006 to 2016, this acclaimed economist predicts that “U.S. household wealth will reach $100 trillion.”

He says about the Internet: “The Internet represents one of the greatest economic revolutions in history- and it’s just getting started….”and adds, “The impact of the Internet, which is even now only in its infancy, can only be compared to the invention of writing……”

Here’s where you come in. “The large corporation is giving way to the independent contractor and the self employed entrepreneur. In effect, we’re breaking down the hugh corporations into their component parts, namely, the individual entrepreneurs-and as a result, more and more of those entrepreneurs are becoming millionaires. In the past, where we’d see a single company going to $1 billion, today we’ll more likely see 1000 individuals each going to $1 million.”

It’s an exciting read. I highly recommend it for all you idea entrepreneurs out there!

Always on the prowl for new and future opportunity ideas, and particularly as it relates to the New Media, here are related and recent articles shedding light on the great need and opportunity for ‘content providers’, and the burgeoning mobile advertising market.

I’ve mentioned both of these subjects in this blog a few times already (scroll down through). Due to the rate of New Media integration, much of the whole industry is still somewhat disjointed and it is evident that operating standards and implementation deadlines need to be established in order to streamline both access and utility.

You’ll note the specific mention of 2011……just a few ‘curcuits around the sun’ from now, to quote another avid blogger friend. All the major New Media players, participants and pioneers seem to be bantering around this time frame (including Bill Gates’ Internet/TV convergence prediction here).

What’s really intriguing is the idea that any new idea multi-media entrepreneur with with a little foresight, creativity, a web site, a video camera and some basic production tools, can find a way to partcipate!

In the HDTV article we read:

But he also said some customers were disappointed with the product as, on some services, there is not always enough content to watch. The report said it expected this to change and highlighted the situation in the United States, Japan and Australia where governments had set deadlines for broadcasters to deliver a quota of programming in HD. “Maybe it’s time for that practice to become more widespread,” Simon Dyson, senior media analyst at Informa, said.

As if right on cue, ( but I’m sure it was just a coincidence of timing ), these two news articles regarding next generation cell phone manufacturers, were just released …. a mere 7 days after I wrote my Jan 31 post ( https://engenios.wordpress.com/2007/01/31/im-a-panasonic-genios/ ) wherein, among other predictions, I commented “….Cell phone/TV costs should drop, or some may even be free,…..”

The future media distribution and accessibility demands being forced by the consumer, will dictate, control and influence industry manufacturers, suppliers, and content providers to continually raise the innovation bar in order to grab a larger share of the mobile device market.

To use the standard hardwire long distance model of even 10 years ago as a history lesson….few believed that there would be such a thing as 5 cents- a- minute long distance calls…..much less free calls over the Internet. AT&T took a few lumps for dragging their heels on that one.

Should I go out on a limb and predict that in the New Media future, one innovative idea phone company will be paying you to use their product?…..soon.

These days, everyone can attest to the importance of being innovative. In a knowledge economy where small insights can quickly shift the competitive landscape and capabilities can rapidly be bought, borrowed or built, we believe that those leaders who oversee a dynamic, fast-moving, innovation portfolio will have the best chance of breaking from the pack and generating growth. But many organizations are finding it difficult to engage people – from their employees to their customers to their suppliers – in the innovation process. If this is the case, then where do they start?

This opening paragraph of a terrific 2 page pdf file summary of a full report (IBM Global Business Services) discussion of the people and innovation roadblocks often encountered by organizations trying to effect changes.

If you are an old media thinker, this article is a great place to start. Changing the tried and true is never an easy task, but like the Kodak mindset of hanging on to film while the world is going digital, you either have to face the changes now or wake up in 5 years and wonder where did that little no-name blogging media superstar outlet come from…!

This headline has summarized in one line, what this blog has been revealing as its underlying theme for the past month. There is a New Media underway.

It seems as if all the smart guys in the Internet media world have been kind of slow at clearly outlining this future of the ‘now’ media, or possible maybe I might just have a little ‘panasonic’ Genios in me….you know, ‘Just Slightly Ahead of My Time….?’

Delivery vehicles are changing and content providers are changing. As I have repeatedly written, this truly is the New Media. You’ll be seeing detailed and direct tailor made advertising appearing on your Web-TV or i-Phone unit based on your user profile.

Even more exciting, there will be opportunities for users to participate in the revenue share just for watching or contributing content. (YouTube is already undertaking a test program of this sort)

If you think about it,… the advertising exposure will grow to the billions. I see Internet based cellphones like todays daily newspapers: With higher volume, and more users, advertising rates can drop per unit, inviting more buyers and more sellers…..and on and on we go. Cell phone/TV costs should drop, or some may even be free, as users will support the product through ad revenues. Imagine Google 1/2” cube ads in the side scrolls of your phone! Imagine calling someone on your phone who then receives your coded ad links……and you get paid! The more you talk, the more you get paid. Imagine ads linked to voice recognition ads……and the ad content changes in relation to the discussion topic?…..Advertising would become an optional multi-layered affiliate program….Web-TV and portable device manufacturers could potentially provide free hardware for you to use in an effort to build a larger ad/audience/user base?……that’s not much different than having a popular web site with 1000’s of hits per day!?

Like in the langauage of Popeye: “I yam, I yam,I yam a Geniosidea man!”

Trolling through the bookstands (yes its okay to support other media) while doing some research on the future of web video and vlogging for this site, I came across a great editorial by Matthew York, Videomaker Magazine’s Publisher and Editor. (OK, they are on the Internet too : www.videomaker.com)

Matthew touts the ‘Micro Short’, as a new “audiovisual package“, and being among the forefront of this Internet new media experience. While mini-video productions of just a few seconds to several small minutes long have certainly been popularized by YouTube http://www.youtube.com/and others, Matthew voices our belief too, that this new media allows the most ordinary of folk to become…”almost famous”!

Did you know that the creators of the Diet Coke/Mentos video clip garnered a $35,000 advertising income check from Revver.com, http://one.revver.com/revver , the streaming host?

Now, that’s ‘engenios’! ……Start your cameras.

While we set about on our own mission to develop and capitalize on this media, I do agree and concur with his final point “….I’d like to see talented video producers shoot and edit more compelling videos [ I read content is king] . I’d also like to see people who record interesting things on video become more skilled in shooting and editing [I read quality still matters] ” Check them out at the link above. :->

As we can all get sometimes lost in the uniqueness of our ideas, some probably even justifiably so, I would venture a guess that 95% of ideas need a little bit more than just the idea itself, to succeed. When it comes to describing your idea in your business plan, keep the zeal but let’s keep it real.

In a recent article by Tim Berry (www.bplans.com) published in a Canadian small business publication (www.sohomagazine.ca), Winter 2006 issue, a very grounded quote:

Idea Inflation

“Don’t overestimate the importance of the idea. You don’t need a great idea to start a business; you need time, money, perseverance, and common sense. Few successful businesses are based entirely on new ideas. A new idea is harder to sell than an existing one, because people don’t understand a new idea and they are often unsure if it will work.

Plans [business plans] don’t sell new business ideas to investors. People do. Investors invest in people, not ideas. The plan, though necessary, is only a way to present information.”

Take it from someone who started in the trenches…..literally. In the hotel business I started as a Janitor; in the construction business I started carrying out the trash and digging ditches. I rose rapidly through the career ranks and although the significant financial rewards eluded me, no one could out-dream me and my big ideas. I figured if I could understand the hospitality business and then the construction business, I would be someday in a position to build my own properties!….and what a property it will be….you see, I’ve had for some years now, my own idea of building the worlds first revolving hotel…. yes, all the rooms revolve 24 hours a day (not just the dining platform on the roof-top)!

The point. Sure it sounds like a great idea, but I’ve spent almost 20 years building a foundation for the right people to take me and the idea seriously. That has taken some work, some suffering, and even periods of personal delusion along the way, but I’ve endured, persevered, and met a lot of good people along the way who are willing to participate once the funding is in place.

Your idea may not be as grandiose or wild, but the principle remains the same. Once you’ve settled on your idea, get to work on all the other aspects of bringing it to fruition. Most importantly, become the person whom you would like to work with or invest in in if you were someone else. It truly is about people in the end.

Fred Wilson wrote in his venture capital blog at Union Square Ventures com:

Founders and Management

“No business is so good that the wrong people can’t mess it up. And no business is so bad that the right people can’t fix it. If you think about what a business is, it’s a collection of people who have been organized in attempt to profit from offering a product or service to the marketplace. So if you don’t get the people part of the equation right, everything else is really immaterial.

And the people issues always start at the top of the company. Great people attract and retain great people and build a culture where the best people like to work. They value people, compensate them well, motivate them well, and manage them well. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who don’t have what it takes to lead an organization. For some people, that is because they don’t enjoy managing people. For others, that is because they don’t have the empathy or self awareness that is required to manage others. There are many reasons why some people don’t make good managers and leaders.”

Suffice to say in summary of this blog, that while we all have ideas, it is important to keep everything in perspective. Everyone in an organization wants an idea to succeed. And all for different reasons. Depending on your role, the idea of what actual success is, will usually hinge on more than the idea itself.

Reviewing my regular workload and juggling the new family obligations while in the midst of embarking on this Internet venture, caused me to occasionally reminisce about my early days in a small Italian pasta restaurant. The owner, Tony, always used to say, “Hey Gary, Not for Nothin”……., in that unmistakable Staten Island power talk of his, and it was almost always in the vein of: ‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ (I was the guy trying to make the linguine pasta salad, ….and pulled the vermicelli from the storage bin).

Those days are many years since gone by…..but sometimes, as I look at all of the new technology and terminology in this New Media world, and how much there is to learn and then structure the pieces into a workable, viable business that I can manage from a keyboard…..AAaiiigh!…..well, for certain, now I have spaghetti, linguine, vermicelli, fusilli and readers and page views, and trackbacks, and blogs, and plogs, and vlogs……

….but, I am clear about one thing. I know what I’m doing, and It’s Not for Nothin!

Painting a glowing picture of the future of film making, video production and distribution in the New Media, this article continues to cement the powerful Internet base for those in utilization or pursuit of content writers, producers or distribution channels.

The article includes, ‘….Most notably, the festival has renamed its media center “New Frontier,” which is also the name of a category of films showcasing the intersection of art and new technology’….. and, ‘…Panel topics will include the business of Web 2.0 as it pertains to user-generated media, and independent video gaming as a new medium for film artistry….”

There is certainly no question that the Internet, even here and now in it’s 2.0 version is still very much itself a New Frontier. Whether you are into multi-deviced passive entertainment or desiring a platform to share your ideas, I think it is a good place to be if you are entrepreneurial in spirit, a pioneering independent blogger, plogger, or vlogger, and of course, just a little bit ‘Genios’ enough to dig those spurs in, grab the reins, kick up a little keyboard dust as you stake your claim in the New Digital Dust Rush.